


Loser Sleeps in the Barn

by SttatusQuo



Category: Jupiter Ascending (2015)
Genre: Gen, pranks gone wrong
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-22
Updated: 2017-01-22
Packaged: 2018-09-19 06:50:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9423422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SttatusQuo/pseuds/SttatusQuo
Summary: This started out in the "Around the Kitchen Table" and takes place after chapter 3 but doesn't really belong in that series.  I initially posted it one place and moved it here as a stand-alone until I figure out just where it really does go. One day I will figure out HTML on here as well.  Sorry for the awkward formatting.Not my characters, not my 'verse.





	

The last meeting of the day had frayed her nerves almost beyond repair. Dealing with insufferable bureaucrats was an exercise in frustration- especially when they moved at the glacial pace of a society in which all the people that really mattered would live for thousands of years. Jupiter needed a day off and the idea of being alone- completely alone with nobody watching her- had been niggling at her for almost a month. Since her return to earth she was keenly aware of just how vulnerable she was and that she needed protection and support.

It wasn’t fair to Caine and Stinger to expect them to provide all of it- she needed to just get over it and learn to accept what was required to keep her safe. She knew that there were Keepers on the property to help keep watch and somewhere overhead there was the rest of her personal guard of Skyjackers – she had been postponing meeting them because the idea of having that many people devoted to her well-being made her uncomfortable. She might own their contracts and they might have been hand-picked by Stinger but what if they didn’t *like* her? She was grateful that so far Stinger had kept them out of sight.

On a previous visit to the Aegis ship in its semi-permanent orbit above, she had a quiet conversation with Captain Diomika Tsing. It weighed on Jupiter that Balem, surrounded by what was probably the best security that could be purchased in the universe had ultimately died alone and helpless. Jupiter had no intention of being in that position ever if she could help it and she wanted to do everything she could to avoid putting Caine, Stinger, or anyone else in harm’s way. After today’s round of tedious and overly detailed discussions Captain Tsing had discreetly invited her to a small conference room and presented her with what amounted to a personal cloaking device. It was, the Captain assured her, the very latest and most effective of its type- not yet released from the prototype.

Jupiter couldn’t wait to try it out and wanted to go back, but the Captain’s calm insistence that she learn to use it on the ship made sense. Together they had pored over the instructions. Phylo Percadium had joined them as well to help explain the science to her. Jupiter knew he would be as discreet as his Captain and amused by how visibly impressed he was with its design and function.

Three hours later her head was spinning but she had a rudimentary grasp of the science and a demonstrably good grasp of how the device worked. Jupiter hated to think of how many people had died for her to be able to afford it. The thought that being able to vanish at will might save her yet another involuntary visit with a relative or even her life one day did make her feel a little safer.

Back on earth it was duty first- there were times when she bemoaned the work ethic drilled into her from birth. There were people she cared about to be looked after and millions of others that she didn’t know added to that number. With a sigh she flopped down in what had become *her* chair in the kitchen and picked up one of the sheaves stacked there awaiting her attention. The sheave in her hand looked ordinary enough but a nearly undetectable button opened a shallow compartment behind the screen. Inside the compartment was a beautifully worked bracelet consisting of interlocking discs that housed the cloaking device. She sat at Stinger’s kitchen table with a sheave and tried to concentrate on what felt like homework. Discreetly she thumbed the instructions to her new toy open in a second window on the electronic device to re-read the instructions.

It was no act for her to stand and stretch half an hour later. She was exhausted. She poured the dregs of her cold coffee down the drain and washed the cup before she set it in the drainer. Caine came in from the other room and stood next to her as she stared out into the yard and watched the bees coming and going from the hives. She leaned against him and felt his arm circle her shoulders to pull her in tightly against him. She leaned her head against him and inhaled, savoring the smell of him through the soft textured shirt he wore and letting it out with a happy “Mmmmmm…” as she cuddled up closer to his warmth and felt the regular beat of his heart against her cheek. Her arm snaked around his waist between his wings and his back and she felt the tiny shiver of response as her arm brushed the sensitive pinions. He leaned his head over and pressed the lower half of his face against her hair, drawing a deep breath in and exhaling warmth into her hair.  
He was never off duty with her. Even in the unguarded moments like this he was careful to stand to her right leaving access clear to the mauler that was the next-to-last thing he took off at night after he had checked the door and windows. It was sweet – and slightly suffocating. Jupiter felt like she needed a break and some personal time off from what he life had become.

Caine was in the shower after getting filthy in a mock battle with Stinger as practice. Jupiter grabbed her boots, turned off her phone, and picked up a real paper magazine she’d been looking forward to reading. Leaving a note for Caine on the bed underneath her phone, she headed downstairs as quickly as she could. The house was quiet in the late afternoon. Jupiter left a second note on the kitchen table for Stinger and slipped out of the house. Quickly she slipped into her boots and touched the control on her device- registering the slight shift in color that told her the shielding field had engaged. She stepped off the porch in the mid-afternoon sun and looked around for a quiet spot. There was a shady spot near the edge of the cornfield from the one lone tree of any size in the back yard and she headed there.

Dimly she heard a thud she recognized as Caine not bothering with the stairs again followed by the bang of the door hitting the wall with considerable force. Bees poured out of the wall angry at the disturbance. Caine jogged a few steps into the yard looking around him. He was shirtless with water still beading his chest and shoulders but otherwise dressed. He tilted his head back, clearly trying to catch her scent. One hand was at the com device on his neck the other still clutched her note. He said something too low for her to hear and looked at the note she left again,

 

__

> _
> 
> Caine,  
>  Jupiter has a new toy. See if you can find me. Loser sleeps in the barn.
> 
> PS: I’m cloaked. PSS: I love you.
> 
> J
> 
> _

Jupiter heard Stinger’s door slam and another bang of boots on the first floor as he too skipped the stairway.

Caine stretched up to his full height and his wings untucked from the strict vertical position he and Stinger maintained indoors. Stinger had explained that the position, while low-profile and efficient, wasn’t entirely comfortable and that often on transport from one mission to another that Skyjackers would scout for spots where they could completely stretch out their wings from time to time and then share the location with the group. Jupiter had watched them after that and noticed that when they left the house the first thing they did was stretch their wings before parking them in a position parallel to each other behind them. During the times that she and Caine were outdoors he often opened his wings up fully when he could even if they weren’t flying together.

Stinger jogged out of the house and stood next to Caine as he opened his own note.

 

__

> _Hi Stinger,_
> 
> I’m not running away from home. I’m testing a new device.  
>  Loser sleeps in the barn.
> 
> PS: I love you too- differently.  
>  JJ

Jupiter took a moment to marvel at how magnificent they looked standing together. It had only been a matter of a few weeks since Caine and then Stinger had returned with their wings. She couldn’t imagine either of them without them now.  
“Well it seems her Majesty has set us a task.” Stinger said thoughtfully as he looked around for her or some hint of where she might be.

Caine remained silent, every sense tuned to find her.

Jupiter began to feel bad for having not thought what this might do to Caine. She could see the tension and worry rolling off of Caine as he brought her note to his nose and inhaled again. A range of emotions played across his face, chief among them was concern.

Stinger spoke again. “It’s a good cloaking device. I do believe I need to have a word with the good Captain Tsing, though.”

“You think…” Caine didn’t finish the sentence.

“Who else would her Majesty ask that has access to a device this good that she trusted?”

“You.”

“You wound me, Caine. After all I did…”

Jupiter suppressed a giggle.

With a snarl, Caine jogged forward a couple of steps and was suddenly airborne. The powerful wings beat quickly a few times blowing dust and grass clippings back at Stinger as he soared upward, passing out of view behind the house. Stinger was two steps behind him. Jupiter watched in awe. Caine swung back around the house, pointed right and immediately Stinger headed in that direction as they moved in a widening circle with the house in the center.

The wind was picking up and as quietly as she could Jupiter lowered herself to sit with her back to the tree and began to read. Fifteen minutes later her conscience bore down on her and her moment of freedom didn’t feel as liberating in practice as it had in theory knowing that she had made trouble for Stinger and Caine. Stifling a sigh, she stood up and stretched in preparation to go find them- even if it meant sleeping in the barn.

Jupiter made a mental note to thank Captain Tsing for finding the device. It was an extraordinary piece of equipment that might just save her life one day. If Caine and Stinger couldn’t find her then it seemed likely an enemy wouldn’t be able to either. Having it on made her feel a bit more in control of her own safety which eased a little of the knot that was always present since she returned to earth.

Unsure as to whether or not stepping on the grass would cause noise or footprints she made her way to the edge of the cornfield stepping on the bare patches in the grass as much as possible. Pausing for a moment she was reaching for the control to turn off the device when a flicker of shadow swept over briefly. Caine was on the wing looking for her and obviously flying some sort of search pattern with Stinger who was coming in from the far side of the field. Stinger landed beside the house and made a spiral signal with one hand indicating that he wanted Caine higher in the air as he walked around to the front of the house.

Something rustled in the field near her and she saw Caine execute a 180 degree looping turn straight up and plunge toward the ground head first in what looked like a fatal dive. A dozen feet off the ground he tucked up into a ball as his wings snapped open and beat down to slow his descent as he dropped feet first out of sight among the waving stalks. Outraged honking announced the rush of Stinger’s three geese from the cornfield- deeply aggrieved having had their search for food disturbed. Caine followed them out and when the gander turned to spread his wings and hiss, Caine spread his own wings and growled. The gander hissed again and folded his wings to hurry after the other two toward a different part of the field, satisfied with having told the winged human off. Biting back a chuckle Jupiter moved to keep the tree between Caine and her as she fled to the front yard.

Rounding the corner at a brisk walk she almost ran into Stinger who was standing with his hand to his com button. “I don’t care,” he snapped, “just get them down here.” Jupiter moved a few feet away and watched. No shadows. No trace of her footprints.

Caine walked around the corner of the house with her magazine in his hands. “She’s close. I just found this by the tree.”

Stinger’s frustration was evident. “I just asked Captain Tsing to send for the rest of the squad in to help. This is getting out of hand. She could be anywhere and we can do nothing at this point.”

Caine held the book to his nose and inhaled. “I don’t get any other scent from the device-just her scent from having held it. Tsing…” his words faded into a soft rumbling growl.

“I know. Beeswax!” Stinger swore softly as he looked around. “It’s a good device, though. I can’t detect anything visual. She could be standing right next to us and we’d never know it.

Close enough to hear the exchange; Jupiter realized that what had started out as a light-hearted prank on her part was being treated with deadly serious intent by her guardian friends. Stinger had just called the rest of her royal squad in to search for her. Could she hide from them? Should she? Abruptly she decided that since everything was in motion she might as well see if they really could find her and suffer the consequences of Stinger’s and Caine’s disappointment in her. The front door banged and Kiza hurried out the door with two long guns which she handed off to each man along with a shirt for Caine.

“Do you think she’s all right, Da?” she asked with concern. Caine flipped the shirt on over his head and Jupiter watched as the attachments activated drawing the parts around the wings. Magic clothing.

“I think she’s fine, Kiza,” Stinger said gently. “She’s got a new cloaking device and is testing it by daring us to find her. We’ll find her. I’ve got a trick or two up my sleeve she hasn’t met yet.”

The pale blue of a grav beam appeared above the ground across the yard and Stinger strode in that direction trailed by an obviously frustrated Caine. "I'll put coffee on then," Kiza said over her shoulder as she headed back to the house, "Squad's going to be thirsty and they like Earth coffee." Jupiter stared after her friend shocked to see that she also had a long gun slung across her back.

The beamed flickered as Skyjackers hurtled through head first from the open portal at the base of the ship. Wings snapped open and they dove for Stinger, pulling the same flip ten feet off the ground that Caine had earlier to land solidly on the lawn. Every single one of them was in full and armored uniform with her sigil glowing at the high neck of their jacket. There were eight in all, five of them were lycantants. A couple she recognized as guards she mistook for the ship’s crew posted as guards outside her door when she was on board. The grav beam was slowly depositing a group of black bags that she suspected was their kit and several heavy-looking boxes she suspected were supplies, weapons, or ammunition. They had come prepared to stay.

It took Stinger less than a minute to brief them. “Her Majesty, in her wisdom, has set us the task of locating her in spite of the cloaking device she wears. This device, thoughtfully provided by the Aegis, is a prototype of its design so there are no specs to review. Based on the evidence available, we believe it to be a capsule type that encloses the wearer in an electronic field that masks both sound and scent. Anyone here have any experience with a device like that?”

No one spoke. Stinger stood there with his hands on his hips and his wings slightly spread looking at them like he had expected better. Jupiter smiled a little and was glad she wasn’t on the receiving end of Stinger’s attention. She could feel their collective discomfort under his gaze although the carefully neutral faces above her sigil on their collar reminded her of her early days with Caine when he wouldn’t quite meet her gaze unless he was talking to her. It struck her suddenly seeing their uniforms with her sigil and tried to wrap her mind around the idea that these were her people. Her people. They were responsible for her and she for them in a way she hadn’t really understood until now. Just looking at them she felt her heart swell a little with pride.

“As I thought. Captain Wise is holding an Earth-style paper magazine that her Majesty touched recently which he will hand over so you can mark the scent better for those of you that are scent-trackers.”

Caine had just stepped forward to the first Skyjacker in formation when a comment from the ranks stopped him cold and set wings rustling with suppressed laughter.

Stinger pilloried the group with a stare. “Winterborn, perhaps you’d like to share that comment with us all. Please do come up to the head of the class to share your wit as we all wait on you to get started with the search for her Majesty.”  
Winterborn, one of the lycantants, stepped forward. He assumed the parade rest position she’d seen Caine adopt when he thought he was in trouble and said “I said that if I wanted to get the scent of her Majesty I would be doing better to scent the Captain.” Jupiter could feel the collective wince from the group on Winterborn’s behalf.

Stinger’s voice could have frozen water. “The next one of you that says something out of line like that is going back to the transport to rot on a metal bunk in a room so small you’ll have think hard to remember what it felt like to spread your wings out. There was one free pass for the lot of you and Lieutenant Winterborn has taken it as his splicer was never known to code for brains or decorum.” If Winterborn had had a tail it would have been between his legs as he resumed his place in line.

Caine stepped forward with the book and it was passed from hand to hand down the line-held carefully so as not to add other scents to it. They were an intimidating lineup, Jupiter reflected. She was glad they were on her side.

When he dismissed them one of the female non-lycantants moved over to Caine. She looked pure human but was taller than Caine by at least three inches. They exchanged a few words and she and Caine walked around to the back of the house. The other Skyjackers were discussing how long she’d been gone and how far she could have run, being human. Two fired up boots and began moving toward the side of the house. Two more indicated that they would take the barn and their left hands moved as they powered up their boots. Jupiter powered her own boots on at the same time and nobody looked her way. She was slowly moving backward in her boots when Caine and the other Skyjacker came back around the corner of the house at a jog and headed for the exact spot where she had been standing moments before. Caine bared his teeth in frustration at the near miss.

Jupiter skated upwards and lit on top of the barn until she saw the Skyjacker pause and put her nose up in the air. Caine was instantly on alert and when the female Skyjacker pointed to the top of the barn he was off the ground before her arm finished its motion. Jupiter stepped back in surprise as Caine landed close and ducked to avoid an extended wing feeling very clever. The pitch of the roof was too steep and she slipped and then stumbled backwards, arms flailing, right into the weathervane. She couldn’t suppress the cry as something lacerated her leg. Caine leaped toward the sound- arms out and wings spread and curved forward as if he knew to keep her from falling. Slipping again she felt more pain in her leg as her hands brushed the left wing and she was instantly caught tight in his arms. She leaned against him gasping with adrenaline and pain, then remembered to tap the device so she was visible again.

“I’m not very good at hiding,” she muttered as she buried her face in his chest. She started to move her leg and gasped in pain.

“I smell blood,” Caine said, “Don’t move, your Majesty.” Jupiter ignored him and torqued her body around to find that the point of the weathervane was deeply embedded in the back of her leg above the knee. It hurt like hell and made her a little dizzy.

“Oh God, I have the worst ideas,” Jupiter muttered.

“Her Majesty is injured, Lieutenant Minor,” Caine said to the Skyjacker behind him. His calmness was reassuring but she could feel the tension thrumming in his muscles as he wrapped himself around her to keep her still, wings out for balance. The Skyjacker that had pointed her out was behind him and moved quickly to see what was wrong, ducking under Caine’s wing to crouch beside her.

“Apologies, your Majesty, I need to see to your wound. “ Jupiter couldn’t see much except the black uniform and wings but the voice sounded kind with the accent that the translator on the com unit gave all the non-English speakers.

Caine’s arms were steady around her as she felt the Skyjacker tear the fabric of her jeans to see the wound. A firm but gentle hand closed around her knee and quickly moved it forward and up. Immediately Jupiter felt a gush of warmth down her leg which was followed by a vise-like pressure above. Jupiter’s startled yelp of pain subsided in a muttered “ow ow ow ow ow”. A soft growl rumbled out of Caine and she looked up to see his teeth bared slightly as he looked down over her shoulder.

“We’ll need medical, Captain Wise, for the bleeding.”

“Call it in. Can we move her Majesty?”

“Not yet. It's arterial. I need to apply a pressure bandage.” The female behind her called out “Danner, get the kit.” Jupiter bobbed a bit on her boots. "Captain, if her Majesty's boots could be turned off?"

Caine started to move and Jupiter grumbled " I can turn off my own damn boots." and did so. Caine's arms tightened keeping her off the roof as Minor kept pressure above and on the wound.

Seconds later Jupiter recognized the sound of wings catching air prior to landing followed by the sounds of boots landing on the barn roof which gave an agonized creak as apparently more Skyjackers than Danner had arrived to help. Jupiter looked up but couldn’t see much of anything beyond Caine’s wings which were still extended.

“Damn,” she said feeling like she was ten and more than a little embarrassed about the situation she had created.

There was the sound of still more boots and wings. The metal roof of the barn groaned alarmingly as Stinger’s voice rang out from across the yard “Half of you. Off the barn! Right now! Break my barn and you’ll be sleeping in a tree to keep the rain off.”

There was the sound of a container opening and she heard Caine tell someone “No, don’t use that. Field dress it.”

“Aye Captain.”

The bandaging process did hurt but Jupiter sucked it up and considered it payback for the stunt she’d pulled.

“You should be able to move her safely now Captain Wise. The medics are on their way from the ship.”

With no further comment, Caine picked her up and launched them skyward and then began gliding toward the house. He touched down with barely bump and began walking to the house toward a cluster of Skyjackers. Jupiter peered up at his face. It was carefully neutral but she knew him well enough to know he was very unhappy. He'd never say anything to her about it unless she pressed him and... she didn't want to face that right now.

Jupiter wasn’t particularly pleased to look over his shoulder and see the Aegis medical team in the grav beam on their way down to tend her. Caine carried her up the steps to the porch as she watched Lieutenant Minor and another Skyjacker she assumed was Danner land a few yards away from the rest of the group scattered around the yard. Every one of their faces showed concern and it touched her deeply. Stinger was with them and she saw his pride in them and his disappointment in her although she knew he would have a word with her about what she did later.

Jupiter tapped Caine on the shoulder and whispered “Hold up a sec.”

“Stinger?” she called.

“Yes, your Majesty?”

“Will you please ask all my guard to come over here for a minute?”

Stinger never had to say a word. Every Skyjacker present jogged toward her and stopped at the bottom of the stairs as close as they could get and not bump wings. Two at the back were turned away slightly-guarding her from anything she might need protecting from and assessing the medical team emerging from the grav beam.

“I wanted to thank you for your participation in today’s little exercise. I had hoped for a slightly less dramatic outcome, though. I appreciate your concern and the steps taken to locate me. I am very happy to have such a capable group protecting me," Jupiter said simply.“

Jupiter caught sight of Stinger biting back a smile. “Commander Apini?”

“Yes your Majesty?”

“Have they been up in the Aegis ship the entire time?”

“ No, your Majesty.”

“They’re so good that I just haven’t noticed them being around?”

“Yes your Majesty.”

“I’m even more impressed. They don’t have to stay out of sight out around me any more. I trust your discretion about their... um... discretion.”

Collectively the group seemed to get taller and larger. Over Caine's shoulder she saw what might have been a few hopeful looks and an unguarded smile or two.

“Thank you your Majesty.”

Jupiter laid her head on Caine’s shoulder as the medical team began walking up the sidewalk and smelled the coffee that Kiza was brewing. “Take me inside.”

**Author's Note:**

> This started out in the "Around the Kitchen Table" and takes place after chapter 3 but doesn't really belong in that series. I initially posted it one place and moved it here as a stand-alone until I figure out just where it really does go. One day I will figure out HTML on here as well. Sorry for the awkward formatting.  
> Not my characters, not my 'verse.


End file.
